The Second B
by MissDevon
Summary: Kelly didn't die but was kidnapped. She has worked undercover for the last 10 yrs to bring down 2 of the men responsible. Now, with her cover blown she's returning to DC, NCIS, & a father she barely remembers, but who never forgot her how bad could it be?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Don't know where this came from but it's been running around in my head for a few days now in various forms and won't stop so I had to write it.

BACKGROUND: Basic idea is the typical NCIS twist of what if Kelly didn't die, but with my own spin: what if she was used to help take down the people who had tried to kill her and made it look like she was dead. If it was supposed to be a 'simple' case that just got out of hand? A case that was supposed to take a year of undercover work at most turning into 10 with her pretending to be the missing heiress of a family she never really fit into.

Gibbs doesn't know she's alive, but some people close to him do/did and have a few secrets of their own, now the case Kelly has spent years working on has blown up in her face, so to speak, and she is sent back to DC to meet her father, but will his guilt over what happened to her and her emotional scars over being someone else's unwanted child keep them from forming more then a working relationship?

**The Second B**

_Prologue_

Jennifer Shepard looked at the red head sitting in front of her: "you understand the risks?"

Rolling her eyes, the teenager once known to the world as Kelly Gibbs looked to Tobias Fornell: "is she serious?"

"Kells. . ." her father's best friend said in warning, he like the girl in question, was not happy about what was going on.

Leaning forward in her seat, Kelly glared at the older woman: "I'm not stupid lady, my degrees should prove that to you. My life was stolen from me by those two sociopaths. I want them brought down as much as the agencies do, if the only way for me to do it is to go into some town and pretend to be someone they made me into so be it," she told her as she leaned back into her seat: "besides, it's not like I have all that many memories of my life before them.  
I remember my mom dying.  
I remember some songs she and my dad sang to me.  
I remember a boat.  
I remember a man in a Marine uniform, but the face isn't clear.  
That's it.  
I'm the woman they brainwashed me to be and if it weren't for the forensic intern you have on staff and one of your agents you wouldn't have figured out who I used to be. So the question now is, how do you want me to bring them down and when and how do you plan on letting my father know I'm alive?"

**Chapter 1**

_Ten Years Later  
__Landview, PA_

Brody Lovett rolled his eyes as he slid into a seat across from Natalie Banks in the kitchen of her mother's home midmorning after talking her twin sister down from a panic attack: "Remind me again why the hell we're doing this?" he asked.

"Because Vance thinks this is a swell idea?" she told him without looking up from the laptop screen she was looking at.

"Come on Shep, there has to be more to this then I know."

"This is need to know and you. . ."

"Don't need to know," he finished for her. "Natalie, someone is stalking your sister in Nash's jacket."

"It's not his jacket. The forensics proved it," she told him without looking up.

"How the hell do you know that?"

Natalie looked up: "Vance's lab already has the tests back?"

Brody chuckled: "How the hell do you get the information as quickly as you do?"

"Contacts, Brody," she told him easily as she returned her attention to the laptop screen. "Besides, Abs has her own connections to town."

"You gonna tell me what those are?"

"You don't. . ."

"Need to know. . ." he finished for her. "I still don't know how the hell I'm supposed to do my job if I don't know. . ."

Natalie glared at him as she saved what she was working on and slammed the laptop shut: "Lovett, what is your 'job' here?"

"Watch your six."

"Anything else?"

"Help you gather intel."

"And?"

"Keep your cover intact."

"And what the hell part of that means you need to know everything about my mission in town other then that I'm making sure that Mitch Lawrence is a neutralized threat?" she demanded.

"None."

"Good. Now go and have that lunch with Jared you're supposed to and get whatever you can out of him about the stalker."

"You really think. . ."

"What does John say?" she asked him with a roll of her eyes not wanting to get into the many ways that she knew that her oh so loving husband wasn't who he claimed to be.

"He's jealous. . ."

Natalie laughed: "if he were he wouldn't have left me in that damned room to rot. He would've found me himself. No, he knows something. I just need to figure out what and how and then get a certain agent on his ass. It is long pass time that I put this case to bed."

"Exactly how long have you been working this case, Nat?" Brody wondered.

Natalie looked at him: "ever wondered why they called me Shep?"

"The former_ director?"_ he asked surprised as he tried to put the clues together. He knew that she had been with the agency longer them him, but he hadn't figured on her being connected to the dead woman with a reputation of being tougher on her agents then their current boss.

"Let's just say she recruited me."

"But you were in town before. . ." he started as he mentally did the math in his head.

"Never said she was the director when I got the job here Lovett. . ." Natalie cut him off. "I only said that she recruited me for this mission. Now get going. I have too much time invested in this to screw it up now."

_Chapter 2_

Natalie sat in the Buchanan family home as Bo, Clint, and John argued over what to do with her and Nora looked over at her with a smug smile.. A half hour before the man impersonating Nash had been arrested and the fact that Mitch Lawrence was alive had been revealed. The fact that the 'real' Jessica Buchanan had shown up and some Probie had slipped and referred to her as 'Shep' hadn't helped her case.

So here she was, sitting with her arms crossed over her stomach with a defiant look on her face listening to them trying to decide if they were going to bring her in on charges of fraud, just as she was about to tell them all to go to hell, she heard Nigel arguing with someone, as a smirk reached her lips. "You think this is funny?" Clint accused as he caught sight of her look.

"Nope," she replied simply.

"God damn it McBain, did moving to this town cause you to loose what little brain cells you had?" FBI agent Tobias Fornell demanded as he swooped into the room anger radiating off of him.

"Tobias?" John asked in surprise as he turned on the man he had once worked for.

"Ya think?" he asked as he looked over to Natalie. "Take the damned cuffs off of her. She's on our side."

"There's no way that Natalie is FBI," John said not making a move towards her.

"No, she's not," Leon Vance said as he walked into the room followed by Abby Scuito. "But take it from me you don't want to deal with whose team she is on."

"And who would that be? What type of person allows someone to fake being someone's child?" Vikki asked from where she sat in the background.

"Spencer Truman and Mitch Lawrence," Natalie told them as Abby took the cuffs off her and watched as she massaged her wrists.

"Still doesn't make her a fed," Nora told the men. "She's nothing or anything more than a vindictive bitch."

"Oh, she didn't just. . ." Abby muttered as Brody came in carrying a cartoon of files.

"Oh, she did. . ." Natalie said with a look that Tobias knew all too well, "hey, Toby, Jenny ever tell you what the second B stood for in MY name?"

Fornell shook his head: "what number?"

"5, 19, and 20--- to start," she shot back.

Tobias extended a hand to Brody who pulled out the numbered files Natalie had listed as the agent in charge chuckled: "sometimes you are too damned much like your father," he muttered.

"And that's a bad thing?" she asked.

"Kelly. . ." he started in exasperation. "Don't even. . ."

"So that's your real name?" Vikki asked, a touch of surprise. "Why lie?"

"Because Mitch helped the man who killed my mother. He had me kidnapped. Spencer Truman made sure that my memories were corrupted so that if something happened to your missing daughter she could be replaced.

Well something did.  
DYFS stepped in and took her from Roxie.  
Eventually they put me in her place.. . . . . I was in an accident and Abs did the forensics and. . ."

"And Natalie was picked to bring down Lawrence," Fornell interrupted. "That was 10 years ago.  
We figured that it would be fairly quick.  
Easy.  
In and out.  
We had other plans for Truman. . ."

"Only one case lead to another. . ." Abby put in.

"And her father is going to kill both of us," Vance said with a shake of his head as he looked at the FBI agent in charge.

"You're lying," Nora started, as John looked at her in surprise: "you're really a fed. What agency?"

"NCIS." Natalie said simply.

At that John laughed: "Yeah. Right. Now I know, you're lying. You wouldn't have fallen for Crammer's crap."

"She didn't. She had a full file on him," Abby put in. "Former Director Shepard wanted her to bring him down on the organ trafficking."

"Not to mention I needed her to help with the Santi connection," Fornell put in.

"One Shepard wouldn't share jurisdiction," John started to argue.

"She would if she didn't want me to make a call to a certain one of her agents," Natalie told him simply. "Two, she was the whole time. Fornell wouldn't give up his part in this and NCIS wouldn't give up theirs."

"What about Fitzgerald? She never said anything and. . ."

"She was an idiot," Tobias interrupted John. "She couldn't pick out an undercover even when told there was one in town. She was out to make a name for herself."

"And a place in his bed," Natalie muttered, earning an eye roll from Fornell: "what? It's the truth," she finished on a pout.

"The evidence in AC. . ." John countered as he ran a hand through his hair.

"My doing," Abby jumped in. "Didn't you think it strange that a cop who worked the beat that would've crossed paths with a known gambler and informer didn't know her kid?" she questioned the former FBI agent. "OK, so it was a few years later and her wardrobe was more expensive, but. . . well, he still should've known something about her. I mean flaming red hair is a bit of a give away."

"Who are you?" Bo asked her. "And don't tell me you're FBI."

"Nope. Forensics. NCIS," Abby answered.

"Dressed like that?" Nora scoffed.

"File 6," Abby countered annoyed. "And I'm a hell of a lot better then anyone you have on staff lady."

"No way. You wouldn't have put yourself in danger like that. Allowed Paul to almost. .." John started.

"I let Mitch."

"Oh hell no," Tobias said as he looked at his goddaughter. "He DID NOT. . ."

"I don't think he did," Natalie admitted with a shrug.

"If he weren't dead I'd. . ."

"Well he is," Natalie told him, "so get over it," she said getting to her feet and going to stand toe to toe with him.

"It's a good thing Shepard's dead, she'd take a glock to someone's head," Abby muttered.

"Her father's going to do a lot more than that if he finds out about this," Tobias sighed. "you really out to get me killed? Hell, for that he'd even have taken out Jen and he doesn't go after women!"

"He didn't. . ."

"DID. YOU. GET. A. KIT. DONE?" Tobias spit out.

"No," Natalie admitted as she deflated back into her seat. She had known that if she had and Jen or Tobias had found out she would've been pulled off the case and out of Landview and she didn't want to be. She didn't want to leave then not knowing about Vikki and having failed at her tasks, and she knew damned well that Tobias knew she hadn't had the kit done because he would've found out. He watched out for her like a hawk. They had had more then one fight over him wanting her out of town, usually with him relenting because of the fact the he knew it would lead to her endangering herself and/or her father going off the deep end.

Spinning around on John the agent in question glared: "You had a possible rape victim and you didn't have. . ." he started, his words stopped by Bo punching John in the jaw and knocking him to the ground while Clint advanced on him.

"Wow, almost as effective as you know who," Abby muttered as Vance shook his head.

"Why the hell do I deal with you people?" the black man wondered.

"Because you're a bureaucratic blowhard who wants a political career?" a voice asked from the door.

"Nice of you to show up," Natalie told the dark haired man in the doorway.

"Could've called, Shep."

"Could've just shown up, McClintock."

"Don't call me that," CJ Roberts sighed with a roll of his eyes. "And how the hell do you know that. . ."

"You do know where we're standing don't you, idiot?" she asked him.

"Well, duh!"

"Good, then apparently you didn't get your brains from the airhead although you act like it," she shot back. "Where's the stuff?"

"In the car. And what was that about the. . ."

"Do I look like I have time to explain? Get the stuff."

"You do know that I outrank you?" he asked staring at her in surprise.

"And you do know that I'm senior officer?" she shot back.

"She has a point," Tobias said as he sat on the edge of a desk and watched John come through with slight amusement. "Lovett go with him."

"I don't take orders from you," Brody started to protest.

"Lovett, NOW," Vance ordered.

"Yes, Sir," Brody responded as he hurried out.

"We really have to work on team building," Vance commented.

"You stick me with DiNutzo and I'm hitting you upside the head with a Glock," Fornelll told him.

"Do I even want to know?" Vance wondered as he shook his head and looked over to Natalie and Abby: "You," he said pointing to the red head: "Get packed and cleared out. You're reporting back to DC. I have an opening I need filled and a feeling I'll have less of a hard time getting you on that team then anyone else."

Fornell laughed: "you think he's going to want her in the field?"

"You think I'm going to let him tell me what to do? Or either of you two for that matter?" Natalie asked. "I've more then proved myself on the cases you two and Jenny kept me on over the last ten years. You keep me in the field or I find an agency that will and I won't talk him out of killing you."

"Get packed. We leave in an hour and a half. Scuito, help her then head down to the PD and make sure that they haven't completely screwed up the evidence we need."

"Got it," Abby said rising. "Any one from the team coming in to help?"

"A few from this investigation are on their way to help make sense of the so called files you girls keep," Tobias said as he looked at them: "really, this is supposed to make sense?" he asked as he took off his reading glasses.

"Did anything about this case make sense?" Natalie asked him.

"Does have a point," Abby laughed.

Toby rolled his eyes: "You know I'm getting stuck with DiNutzo right?"

"We better go easy on him then," Abby said as she and Natalie headed towards the door.

"Yeah, especially since you know who will make his life a living hell for a while."

Abby looked back over at her the Director of NCIS: "oh, he's not the one who needs to be worried."

"Don't I know it," Natalie sighed as they passed CJ and Lovett heading in with boxes of files.

"Where you two going?" CJ asked.

"Been reassigned," Natalie told him with ease. "Abs is helping me pack before she goes and makes sure that the LPD doesn't completely screw up the evidence."

"They're not that bad," he chided.

"Yeah, that's why so many people where charged with Truman's murder, oh, and why Lawrence was declared dead 3 times," she shot back with a roll of her eyes: "Really, Roberts one of these days, you're going to have to buy a clue with that trust fund of yours," she finished before walking off.

"What the hell is Shep's deal anyway?" he asked Brody.

Brody only shook his head: "Damned if any of us have figured it out."


	2. Packing and Confronations

**Chapter 3**

Natalie sighed as she looked around her room at Lanfair: "10 years worth of stuff to pack up. Where the hell do I even start?" she asked more to herself then to her best friend.

"With the stuff you actually, you know, want," Abby suggested as she went to the closet and pulled out suitcases for the redhead and looked around the room. "Looks like someone already brought up boxes."

"Probably on Vikki's orders," Natalie sighed, then added as she looked over her shoulder at the dark haired Goth: "probably wants to control what I can and can't take."

"It's all yours."

"No. It's Natalie Buchanan's. Lord knows I'm not her, no pun intended," she complained as she collapsed on the bed.

"You've been her for the last ten years, now get your six up and start packing," Abby ordered her. "I'm not doing all the work and you have like an hour."

"Anyone ever tell you you're annoying?"

"All the time, especially when I'm going through Caf-Pow withdrawal," she shot back dramatically.

"Sorry they don't make them this far north, and the coffee around here isn't strong enough for you."

"I'll have a cup at the PD. Police Station coffee is always slug," Abby replied as she started putting clothes into one of the suitcases for her partner. "Get to work would ya?"

"I don't know where to start," Natalie said as she looked around the room.

Abby stared at her: "OK, if you were doing this on your own terms where would you start, and don't say with the closet and clothes because I'm working on that. . ."

"The pictures. . ."

"Then start packing those photo albums," Abby ordered as a shadow fell over the doorway.

"I thought I heard you in here," Jessica, the real one, said as she stood at the threshold. "I. . . .you're not leaving are you?"

Natalie shot Abby a look then turned to the blonde: "not a Buchanan, Jessie, so yeah. I'm going."

"Better watch what she's taking," Kevin said as he came up behind his sister. "Don't want her stealing anything else."

"I never stole anything," Natalie shot back tiredly.

"No, just someone's---- my sister's--- identity," he replied tensely.

"Right. I pretended to be someone I wasn't. So what? So have a lot of people around here. Tess pretended to be Jess but I don't hear you throwing the same accusations at her that you are at me. She stole someone's identity too, Kevin," Natalie replied tightly as she threw some books into a box.

"But she's a Buchanan," Kevin replied evenly.

"Yeah, well you're no more of one then I am so what gives you the right to pass judgment on me?"

"Hey, drop the second B," Abby warned from the closet as she stepped out with another armful of clothes, then sighed, "Christ, Kells. . ."

"I can't. . . I just can't. . ." Natalie started to cry as she collapsed onto the bed. "It's always about her. Or someone else. . ."

"Nice waterworks," Kevin said with a roll of his eyes, as Jessica came into the room and sat next to her 'sister' and glared at him: "enough, Kevin. Mitch would still have me if it weren't for the work that Natty did."

"Jess, don't you get it? That isn't even her name. We don't even know. . ."

"It's Kelly," Natalie said as she wiped at her tears. "And I can't tell you the last name. . . I. . . "

"She's been working on this case since she got here," Abby jumped in to defend her friend. "And not just because of what that man did to your family but because of what he did to hers. Think your sister's the only one he took?"

"You mean. . .?" Jessica started.

"My mom was killed in a car accident. My dad was overseas. He thinks I'm dead," Natalie admitted tiredly to a gasp from Jess and a stunned look from Kevin. "That's what Mitch and Truman got them to tell him.  
Then they made my life hell.  
Twisted my memories. . . I was their victim too.  
I'm Kelly, but I'm also Natalie.  
Kelly because that's the name I was born with and Natalie because that's who they made me.  
I was just a little girl who wanted her parents.  
Who was told they were dead.  
Then that her father didn't want her because. . . because I caught sight of him in the background of a news report. . . but I knew and they just. . ."

"Her Dad's never gotten over the loss.  
Doesn't talk about her or her mom," Abby put in. "Most of us who work with him only found out about them a couple of years ago when he was almost killed in an explosion and he. . ."

"His mind took him back in time. . ." Natalie said. "And I couldn't even be there because I had to. . . I had to finish this," she sighed as she pushed to her feet as nervous energy started to take over and she started to grab things and toss them into boxes: "you know that's the reason I didn't have the kit, done, right Abs. If Toby or Jen knew I had one done they would've pulled me in and I had to. . . had to. . ."

"Christ," Abby said as she dropped what she had and went to hug her friend: "the damned case wasn't that important. Lawrence and Truman and Crammer. . ."

"Wait a minute, Crammer, as in Paul?" Kevin asked.

"Ah huh," Natalie sighed. "I was investigating him for organ trafficking."

"Investigating?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, I was on a joint federal task force."

Kevin looked at her: "what type of kit would you have. . ." he started then, realization dawned on him: "tell me that slime ball DIDN'T. . ."

"I don't know," Natalie admitted.

"How the hell do you not KNOW?"

"I had too much to drink. . . or at least pretended to. I tried to get away from him… almost did. . . but he. . . he overpowered me. . . I wasn't carrying. . . we were in AC. . . I didn't have backup. . . he knocked me out and when I woke up he was. . . he was. . ."

"Dead," Kevin finished for her as he sagged against the doorjam. "Jesus Nat, what the hell else haven't you told us? What other types of danger have you put yourself into because of some. . . some job? Didn't you think your life was worth more than. . ." he stopped shaking his head.

"To who?" she asked him. "My Dad thinks I'm dead. I was never really a member of this family. . ."

"That's not true," Jessica interjected.

"Really?" Natalie asked: "then why were Bo and Clint so willing to put me in jail for fraud that I was sitting in Asa's living room handcuffed while they argued about it when my boss showed up?  
Why did they believe I wouldn't come when Rex was shot? Didn't look for me while Tess had me locked in a room in the basement? Then, when I was let out, just expect me to get over it?  
You don't know the number of times I've been made to look the other way. Made to feel like I was nothing.

And this. . ." she stopped and rubbed her forehead: "Kevin's right."

"No," Kevin said, "I just heard what Tess said. What Mom and Dad did. I didn't know you were a. . . that you were a Federal Agent. That you were doing this to try to protect this family. I was wrong. About a lot of things, Natalie."

"Were you? In the end it doesn't matter, does it? I'm just a fraud. Only I'm a fraud with a badge."


	3. costs

BTW: Jessica is Erin Thorpey and Tess is Bree Williamson

**Chapter 4**

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was anything but a desk man and the fact that he was sitting in for the director of NCIS while the majority of his team had been farmed out on some sort of vague interagency assignment he was not privy to and another member was missing was not sitting well with him.

Throwing his tenth now empty cup of coffee into a wastepaper basket in MTAC he looked over to Timothy McGee: "is that it?"

"Yeah, Boss," the younger man said.

"Thank God," Gibbs exhaled seeming to ignore the younger man's amused smile. "I'm heading home. You finish the paperwork on yours and Dinozzo's desks before you leave."

"Yes, Boss," McGee quickly acesended knowing it would do no good to protest having to do both his own and his partner's work. What Gibbs wanted, he got. Figuring he was good to go, the young agent started to walk out only to get smacked upside the back of the head, in confusion he turned to look at Gibbs.

"Nothing about this situation is amusing McGee," Gibbs said without looking at him.

"Yes, Boss," McGee quickly responded with his head downcast.

Gibbs only shook his own: "you know what the paperwork can wait. Just do one thing for me before you leave. Check and make sure the temp hasn't completely destroyed Abby's lab and fix anything they have," he ordered before walking out.

Tim sighed as the door closed behind the older man: "I think I'd prefer the paperwork. . ."

Entering the hallway, Gibbs rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get rid of the nagging feeling that something was not what it should be. Since his team had returned from Israel minus one Ziva David he had been haunted by the feeling that something was wrong but couldn't prove it.

He knew in his gut that her father, Mossad director David, was covering up whatever assignment he had sent her on and whatever had gone wrong with it, he just hadn't been able to prove it. There was no way that the dark haired agent would have gone five months without contacting at least one member of his team in some form.

He knew that the assassin had her secret ways of contacting each of them, and that with how she had left things with his senior field agent he wouldn't have been the one to be contacted, but he also knew that she would've at least reached out to him or Ducky to let them know she was alive.  
That she hadn't worried him.

On top of that was the fact that Abby had suddenly taken off.

Any time Abby wasn't around he worried, but it was the way she had gone and the hurried nature of her departure that had him thinking that, in the forensic scientist's own words, something hinky was going on.

Although they had only been together romantically a short time the amount of time they had been friends allowed him to know that this wasn't like her at all. She might have times where she could be what others considered flighty, but never when it came to her work, and she certainly never would have left her lab, with open cases, in the hands of someone she hadn't hand picked and spent days preparing to her specifications. Add to that that Tobias was also out of town and he was not happy.

Tobias and his agents were never a safe mix, especially, in his own opinion, when he wasn't there to watch their backs.

Stepping onto the elevator, Gibbs let his hand drop as he leaned against the back wall, and admitted to himself it was even more then that worrying him. It was the ghost of his own past revisiting that was weighing him down.

Even with Abby at his house last night he had felt it and had to slip out of the bed he was sharing with her and go downstairs to his basement to work on his boat because of them--- well one in particular.  
He hadn't seen her face, only a profile.  
A profile and red hair.  
Both seeming to belong to Shannon, but the voice was that of a child.  
The voice was that of Kelly's.  
The voice taunted him.  
Begged him to find her and then cried out accusations that he didn't love her enough because he hadn't found her and left her alone all these years.

As the elevator came to a stop, he stepped off wondering how one would even answer that.

Wondered how a shrink would take it.

"Probably just mixing my fears for Ziva with my guilt over Kelly and Shannon," he muttered to himself as he walked out of NCIS headquarters. "Not like I've ever had this particular nightmare before.  
Had Kelly blame me.  
Had Shannon.  
But never had Kelly ask me to find her, or grown up," he continued to mutter as he got to his car. "And I had better stop talking to myself or people are really going to start to talk, or think I'm spending way too much time with Ducky…"

* * *

Neither Kevin nor Jessica had an answer for Natalie's pronouncement, and Abby knew her friend long enough to not even go near it. "Look, we gotta get her stuff packed. She has less then an hour before she has to leave and when her boss picks her up I have to head to the police station," Abby jumped into the silence.

"Her boss, but not yours?" Kevin wondered as he came into the room and started to open drawers, when he realized the first was his sister's underwear drawer, he quickly closed it to the quiet amusement of Jess and Abby and moved on to the one under it.

"I work for a different agency," Abby answered easily.

"Then you guys get as much as you can done and we'll do the rest," Jessica told them as she got to her feet and grabbed a toilette bag and headed into the connecting bathroom.

"You don't have to pretend to care," Natalie told them. "Or to help. I wouldn't take anything that doesn't belong to me," she finished.

"It all belongs to you," Jess called from the other room as Abby gave her an 'I told you so look.'

"Jessie's right," Kevin said as he sat on the bed next to Natalie. "If Mom and Dad and Grandpa and whoever else didn't want you to have the stuff they wouldn't have given it to you. Besides, we both know that you bought most of it for yourself and probably on your own dime."

"Yeah, well, I made pretty good money. And the guilty conscience of a boss who couldn't get me out sooner left me with some more," she sighed thinking of the red head who she knew full well had wanted to use her as a way back into her father's life, but whom she also knew had been a damned good agent and whom she had respected.

"Yeah, well, we'll get this stuff taken care of," Kevin said easily.

"Good, because I have trash bags," Tess said catching her brother's statement as she bounded into the doorway, planning on using erasing Natalie from the home as a way to bond with her siblings.

Natalie rolled her eyes as Jess stepped out of the bathroom at her twin's shrill voice and Kevin rose protectively to his feet: "well, looks like the main piece of trash is still here," Tess chirped as she caught sight of Natalie.

"Doesn't it though?" Jessica asked as she came back into the bedroom. "Abby, where do you want this?"

"Black bag's fine," Abby told her, watching them with curiosity.

"Had a feeling you'd say that," Jess laughed as she placed the bag in the one Abby had pointed out and turned to Natalie: "OK, so I put your everyday makeup in there, hair care products, the usually girly stuff. The rest I'll box up."

"Are you kidding me? You're HELPING her?" Tess huffed.

"Well, yeah. She has less then an hour before she has to leave for her reassignment," Jessica said simply. "She can get more packed with us helping."

"She's a fraud."

"Oh, and you're not?" Jessica shot back. "Thanks for ruining my good name by the way. Always great when one's own twin sister makes her out to be a lying, psycho, cheating, spineless whore. But hey, you only helped Mitch keep me away from the family didn't actually lock me up in a room for months threatening to kill me and blow me up."

"She helped to kill my husband," Tess pouted.

"The same guy you said was stalking you?" Jessica wondered as Marty came up behind Tess.

"Look, you guys are going to have some very real issues to work out. Why don't we go talk about them? A good way for you to start, Jessica, would be to understand that Tess has a right to be angry at Natalie for using her and lying to her. In fact I'm surprised at you for not being more upset at what she's done to _your_ family," the blonde psychologist said.

"Let me think… help the woman who helped to bring down the man who had me kidnapped, twice, and spent the last 10 years trying to bring him and his partner down and stop them from destroying my family or go and have a therapy session with the girl who tried to kill my Mom, multiple times, tried to blow up the family home, and stole my cousin's baby under the direction of the woman who once wrongly accused my brother of raping her… yeah, think I'll stay here and help Natalie pack," Jessica finished, annoyance at the woman who she had thought of as a friend in her teen years clear in her voice. As far as she was concerned if Marty had done her job right where Truman was concerned she would've been home four years ago and most of this wouldn't be so much of an issue.

"Jessica, really. . ." Marty started in a condescending voice.

"Really what, Marty? You know Natalie said something a little earlier that made sense. She and Tess are both frauds in a way. The only difference is that Natalie is a fraud with a badge. I think I prefer her having my back then someone who's made more than one visit to St. Ann's in the past year."

"You're no better than she is. You're both just vindictive bitches," Tess huffed. "You'll see just how wrong you are when she stabs you in the back."

"Funny, I think you'll do it a lot faster," Jessica said. "Now if you excuse me, I'm helping my _sister_ pack before she leaves."

"She's not your sister, I am" Tess huffed.

"Honey, she's more my sister than you are. If I've learned anything because of what Mitch did to me it is that biology doesn't make you family. I have one sister, and you aren't her."

"Kevin…" Tess huffed.

Kevin put his hands up: "I've learned from past mistakes. I'm not taking sides. But if you make me, I'll take Jessie's, which means I take Natalie's."

"Kevin, that is a totally irrational reaction to this situation," Marty started.

"What the hell do you know?" he asked her. "You helped to get one of the men who were responsible for all of this off. You hate Natalie because you want John to yourself. You hate me because I remind you of who you used to be."

"Kevin. . ."

"And you want to talk irrational, Marty? How about making sure your son never has to pay for his crimes, huh? An 18 year old drug addict who put a kid in a wheelchair because he was driving under the influence is not father of the year. He assaulted Star more than once, you really think that I'm following party line that it won't happen again? Or think I'm happy that I agree with Todd on something?

Cole deserved a lot more then community service. If you weren't with John he would've gotten it."

"That's not true and you know it."

"Right," Kevin said with a roll of his eyes. "Look, we have to get her packed. You want to do your session with Tess, go right ahead, but we're helping our sister pack."

"I'm calling Mom, that Bitch can't just walk out of here with stuff that isn't even hers," Tess said as she stalked off with Marty trailing after her.

"Why? You walk around here everyday with it," Jess muttered.

"Well, that was. . . interesting," Abby said as she stepped out of the closet and put her phone back in her pocket.

"What did you do?" Natalie asked her.

"Called in a number," she said with raised eyebrows.

"Abby. . ."

"What's the rule, Kells. . ."

"Oh, come on.. .."

"They want to call you on the second B. . ."

"I prove why it's there. . ." Natalie shot back. "Which file?"

"Which one would you have really, really, really, liked to have used? You know the one to make sure that history didn't repeat, so to speak?" she asked, a touch of hyperness in her voice.

"Ok, even if, you know why we can't use that one. No one knows where. . ."

"Working for Tobias with his not so dead partner," Abby told her.

"No way. . . and how the hell do you know this and I don't?"

"Vinnie."

"Vinnie. . .you know what, I'm not even going to ask. .. wait. . . I have to. .."

"They were afraid he'd blow it and thought he was brought in for. . . you know. . ."

"The look on their faces must have been priceless," Natalie muttered then laughed. "I can't believe you just did that. Now that. . ." she shook her head.

"Temporary. We both know what the more permanent solution is, don't we?" Abby asked as she looked over to where Kevin was filing a box with more of Natalie's clothes.

"Yeah, we do," she conceded nodding her head in silent agreement, silently glad that she'd be able to make Tess pay for hurting her and make up for not being able to use the information she had against Paul to help Kevin and Kelly keep Ace without blowing her cover. . .

* * *

Vikki stood staring out a window as Clint came up next to her: "all this time and she was. . ."

"I know, hard to wrap one's mind around," he admitted tiredly.

Sighing, she shifted to look at him: "you know, I don't know whether to feel sorry for her or be angry at her."

"Feel sorry for her?" Clint asked annoyed. "She lied to us for years."

"And risked her life over and over again for our family," Vikki told him sadly, "at the cost of her own."

Clint nodded: "I suppose you're right. . ." he sad softly: "you know, one thing she didn't lie about was that she wanted a family. They took her from hers just like they took our daughter from us. . "

"I can't even imagine what it must have been like for her. To loose her mother. Think she lost her father. Then decide to try to take down the people who. . ." she shook her head.

Clint looked over to Vikki: "John's lucky that Bo got to him before I did. Or apparently her boss. Why wouldn't she have. . ." he cursed. "I knew something was off when I came back while you were sick. Maybe if I had gotten her to talk she wouldn't have had to carry that burden at least."

"What worries me is that. . . how many times was she put in that situation?"

"They said something about Mitch. . ."

"When Chris was in jail, she made a deal with Mitch. She went to back out, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Chris, Bo, and I got there before it was too late. . . Although now at least I understand what she said to me. .. she was crying when I took her in my arms and she just kept repeating that she thought it was the only way…"

"Why didn't you _tell _me?" Clint demanded.

"I didn't think you'd cared that much and we had it handled," Vikki told him.

"Oh, who am I kidding, Natalie didn't think I cared that much," Clint admitted shaking his head.

"Kelly," Vikki corrected him.

"Right," Clint sighed rubbing a hand through his hair: "she even lied about her name. Why? Why couldn't she have at least told us her real name? Did she think it would make that much of a difference?"

"Maybe she thought if she did she'd get too close."

"They did say it wasn't supposed to be for so long."

"But it was," Vikki said in a tired voice: "and for ten years she was my daughter. And even though I know the truth. . . why does it feel like I'm loosing another one?"

"Because in a way we are," Clint admitted. "I only hope her real father is more up for the job then I was."

"And if he's not?"

"Then I suppose it'll be about time I stepped," he started only to laugh slightly: "only it would be too damned late, wouldn't it? But, if that man doesn't. . ." he shook his head.

"I don't think she could take it. That would shatter her," Vikki finished for him.

"And there's no way she'd let us in to put the pieces back. . . or anyone for that matter."

"Anyone what?" Nora asked as she came into the room.

"Oh, nothing. We were just talking about Natalie," Clint said as he extended a hand to his wife.

"Funny, I just came in to get you two about her."

"Oh? Did something happen?" Vikki asked.

"You could say that," Nora replied with slight annoyance: "Tess called. Seems Natalie is at Llanfair packing up her room, with Kevin and Jessica's help."

"Well, that agent didn't give her much time before she had to leave. . ." Vikki sighed.

"Really, Vikki, do you want her walking off with god knows what?" Nora asked her, looking at her best friend as if she had lost her mind. "I didn't say that Jessica and Kevin were watching what she was taking, rather they were _helping_ her pack. In fact, they have Tess quite upset.

Natalie somehow got them to take her side, even convinced them that Marty, of all people, is to blame for part of this. They apparently told both her and Tess off and Jess refuses to have a session to discuss her issues with Tess with Marty."

Clint exhaled: "well that certainly is unexpected."

"I can have a patrol go over.. ."

"No," Vikki jumped in. "Things in Natalie's room are her things. She can take whatever she wants."

"Vikki, you gave her heirlooms. So did Asa and Renne. . ."

"Right. I gave them to her. They gave them to her. They were gifts Nora. To _her_. They belong to her," Vikki said reasonably.

"They belong to the family."

"Pa gave them to her because he wanted her to have them. She keeps them if she wants them," Clint jumped in, "as far as he was concerned she was his granddaughter. She spent ten years as a part of this family."

"Lying, Clint," Nora insisted.

"Doing her job," Clint corrected. "She risked her life for this family. She became a part of this family. That doesn't change."

"You weren't saying that earlier," Nora pointed out.

"Well, as usual, I'm late to coming to realizations where Natalie is concerned."

"And do you plan on telling her this?" Nora asked. "Either of you?"

"She wouldn't believe us if we did," Vikki answered for both of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Saying goodbye to Jessica and Kevin had been harder than Natalie had expected. After Tess and Marty had left the group had quietly went about packing up the majority of the rest of Natalie's things until Fornell had been shown upstairs by Lois.

The FBI agent had shared a look with the Goth NCIS tech and both quietly agreed to let the former siblings have a few minutes alone, each grabbing a bag to bring down to the car

* * *

Abby sighed as she stepped out into the dusk and leaned against the car that Fornell had rented: "are you driving back?" she wondered.

"Amtrak," the older man answered as he put the larger suitcase in the trunk. "I'm not in the mood for driving close to six hours back to DC with a sullen girl who blames herself for everything in my car."

Abby shrugged: "wonder where she gets that from."

Fornell laughed slightly at her words: "What are you really more worried about? Her or how he's going to take this and the fact. . ."

"The fact that I knew about Shannon and Kelly and never said anything? Better yet that I knew Kelly was alive and kept it from him?" Abby asked as tears formed in her eyes: "Christ, Fornell, this is, like the mother of all secrets. How can he forgive me for. . ." she shook her head.

"For making sure his daughter's cover remained intact for ten years? Coming up with forensic BS to keep her tracks covered? Making sure that at some point she'd be actually able to come home to him? Gee I don't know how he could forgive that," he said in a sardonic tone reminiscent of the man they were discussing.

Abby rolled her eyes and punched Tobias in the arm: "_You_ think he's going to kill you."

"Probably will, but then again Gibbs isn't in love with me."

"Now there's a thought," Abby shot back wryly.

The FBI agent only shook his head: "Look, you followed orders. I could've and should've pulled her out of here years ago. And for that I'm going to have to explain myself and live with the consequences, even ones I'm just starting to learn about."

"You know why she didn't. . ."

"She can say it was about Crammer all she wants, but I know the real reason," Fornell cut her off. "I might be old, but I'm not senile."

"You looked up the timeline."

"No, I remember one very upset young lady on my doorstep because she couldn't go to a funeral."

"I was madder still when you wouldn't go. But I guess now I understand," she pouted. "What is Agent McBain's deal anyway?"

"Former agent," Fornell corrected her, "and he's as haunted by ghosts as another agent we know and you love, he just never learned to put them aside or use them to his advantage on the job. More times than not they lead to him making stupid mistakes."

"Like not making her?"

"Amongst others," Fornell agreed as he reached for the other bag and then looked back at the house: "what the hell is taking her so long?"

"She has ten years invested in this family. Don't you think giving her a few minutes to say goodbye is a good thing?"

"I just want to get out of here before she gets hurt even more," he muttered.

"Ahh, you do have a heart hidden in there somewhere," she teased easily.

"Just don't let it get around."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Abby grinned back.

* * *

"Well, I guess that's pretty much everything," Natalie sighed as she looked around the room she had called her own for most of her life here in Landview. Even when she hadn't lived at Landfair she had always known it was waiting for her. "Vance will. . . if you tell him when to get the stuff, he'll make sure I get it."

"You're not going to give us an address? A way to contact you?" Jessica asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Jess, maybe she's going back undercover," Kevin said as he came behind the blonde. "We wouldn't want her risking her life to keep in contact."

"I'm not going undercover. . . I'm done with that, at least for now, or unless the case calls for it," Natalie told them. "I just. . ." she stopped as she looked away.

"We'll want to know that you're ok," Jess told her. "Or don't you want us to?"

Natalie sighed as she looked over to Kevin, who just looked back at her: "I… I need a little distance, at least at first. Figure out where Natalie ends and Kelly begins… get to know my Dad, if he wants to get to know me, that is."

Kevin shook his head as he crossed to the red head: "and why wouldn't he?"

Natalie laughed tightly: "You really have to ask? How long did it take you to meet me? Joey? Dad--- I mean Clint?"

"Our mistakes," Kevin told her. "Look, it wasn't what we were expecting. A girl coming in and claiming to be Jessie's twin and then. . . yeah, we should've been here sooner. Taken more time. Shown up more when you needed us. . ."

"It doesn't matter," Natalie said as she straightened, setting her shoulders: "what happened happened and I have no right to complain or say anything to anyone."

"You were hurt a lot more then you ever let on, weren't you?" Jessica asked.

Natalie sighed: "I had a job to do and became too emotionally invovled because I was at it too long."

"Bull," Kevin said. "You became a part of this family and you still are."

"I can't be Kevin."

"Why not?" Natalie shook her head, not knowing how to answer: "as for your father, as one I'll tell you if someone came to me and told me that Duke was alive I'd. . . well, it might not be that easy because of all that happened with Kelly but. . .I'd be happy to have him back in my life."

"There's a big difference between five years and twenty," she told him. "Look, I need to go. I can't keep Fornell waiting forever."

"Please, let us know where you'll be," Jessica said simply as she reached out a hand to stop her sister.

"In DC. The logistics I haven't gotten worked out. I'll probably stay with Abs," she admitted.

"Then you won't be alone, that's good," Jessica responded as she forced a smile.

"We'll make sure that the boxes get sent wherever we're told," Kevin said as he reached behind her, "But you should probably take this with you," he added as he picked up her jewelry box.

"I can't."

"It's yours. . ."

Natalie shook her head: "I took. . . I took a few things that the kids--- Jamie and Bre—made me. A locket from Eve--- from Tommy, I mean Sam's christening. Some things from John and Chris. Even a couple of things Ben gave me, but the rest. . . they belong in the family."

"There's stuff in here that Asa gave _you_, not _her_" he pointed out.

"Then Jess should have it," Natalie rationalized.

"I'm not taking things that are yours," Jessica said, then thinking she pulled out her necklace: "what about this? Did you take yours?"

"Wasn't meant for me, Jess."

"Mom gave it to _you_--- to both of us."

"It was supposed to be because we were. . ."

"We _are_ sisters," Jessica cut her off. "We'll give them to our daughters one day."

Natalie exhaled: "I just. . ."

"I'm not taking it Nat. If you make me, I'll just put it away till you change your mind."

Natalie shook her head: "you would too," she exhaled. "Fine. I'll take it. And I'll keep you two informed what's going on with me, but I don't want. . . I only want you guys to know. Maybe it will change later," she said forestalling their arguments. "I just. . . it will be less complicated that way."

"You'll let us know when you do?" Kevin asked hugging her.

"Or them," she admitted stepping back and looking at Jessica. "Besides, it's also a safety thing. . . Jared can't know how to find me. Mom wouldn't be able to keep it from Charlie."

"You're really afraid of him?" Kevin asked, surprised. He had had a sense that there was more going on between the couple since he had come back home, but he hadn't been able to put his finger on what was wrong.

"Jared was a mark. I knew he was a con from day one. I started to date him as a favor to Tess and Nash, but then. . . it became part of the case. . . I knew what I was doing. Knew I was putting myself in more danger if he ever figured out. . ." she shook her head. "Charlie's pretty clean. Nothing major," she told them quickly. "I just. . . when he finds out. . ." she shook her head. "I'll be protected though. Fornell won't let him get to me, and my Dad. . .if he's. . ."

"He'll put him in his place huh?" Kevin interrupted her with an amused grin.

Natalie shrugged: "Let's just say that Jared isn't going to want to deal with him. Got a few friends who will have my back, and with working for Vance. . . it won't exactly be easy for him to just walk up to my desk."

Jessica walked over to her and put her arm through one of hers, "we'll keep your secret, as long as you keep in touch."

Natalie smiled as they started down the hall: "I'll find ways to, I promise," she added as they headed down the stairs.

"You'll be safe, though, right?"

Natalie laughed as they headed towards the door: "as safe as if I were a cop."

"You as a cop, hard to imagine," Kevin said with a smirk: "then again, you as a fed is harder," he added as they exited to see Fornell and Abby by the car.

"I guess this is it," Natalie sighed. "Time for me to face reality."

"You'll be ok. You'll always have us to fall back on," Jessica said hugging quickly.

"And you better be in touch," Kevin said as he handed her the jewelry box: "your nephew's going to miss you. So will we."

"Right. . ." Natalie said with a roll of her eyes, but was cut off from commenting further by Fornell: "Hells bells, Kells, can we get a move on? We have transportation to catch."

"Not driving Toby?" Natalie asked surprised as she stepped off the front steps and headed towards the car, her mood shifting as she left her brother and sister behind.

"Five plus hours in a car with you brooding the whole way, I don't think so. Get in the car."

"Yes sir."

"Don't call me sir, I work for a living," Tobias shot back as he headed for the driver's side door and Abby moved away from the car with an eye roll.

"Right. Forgot who I was talking too," Natalie said as she slipped into the passenger's seat and pulled the door shut. "Fine, let's go."

Abby headed towards the siblings with ease as they watched the car pull away: "She'll be fine. He's not going to let anything happen to her."

"Yeah," Kevin nodded, not completely convinced.

"Look, I need to get back to the police station," Abby told them, deciding that nothing she had to say would change their mind. They would just have to get used to the people their 'sister' had counted on for years and learn for themselves. "Either of you know the number of a cab company?"

"I'll drive you," Kevin told her. "There's something I want to make sure is taken care of."

"Don't worry, I think we've got enough on Banks to keep him where he is, and if not. . . well, she's not going to be easy for him to find, and if he tries. . . well, I'll be able to find out," Abby reassured. "But I won't say no to that ride."


End file.
